Painter’s Tape DIY Contest: Final Round of Voting

Okay, folks, we’ve come down to the final round of our Painter’s Tape DIY Contest. These were the projects with the highest number of votes from the first round, and we are opening up the polls one last time to determine the winners. I know this may seem like a lot of voting, in an election year no less, but bear with us because this is the last round!

Again, 1st place will receive $500 and 2nd and 3rd place will receive $250 each. Once the contest wraps, we will also be sharing the full tutorials for some of these projects, so after you have shown your support for them, you will get a chance to learn how to make them yourself! Thanks again to everyone who participated in the contest, and to Scotch Blue Painter’s Tape for their sponsorship and their awesome product. Blue tape has been part of my crafting life for many years now, and it has been so much fun to see what these incredibly creative and talented people have done with it. — Kate

Images and information about each project are included after the jump. Once you have chosen your favorite (tough decision!!), you can cast your vote by CLICKING HERE. Voting will close at midnight EST this Sunday, August 26th. The winners will be announced after our return from the Labor Day holiday next Wednesday, August 29th. Good luck finalists!

See the final six projects and cast your vote after the jump…

Congrats to the top six finalists, and best of luck to you all in the final round of voting! Here are the top six projects in alphabetical order by creators’ last names:

Sponge Sticky Lamp — Giselle Barron

My entry, “Sticky Lamp,” is made from rolled pieces of tape stuck together to form an organic spherical shape. I’ve seen lamps and pendants made using cylinders before, so I thought the tape might work, too. I love the way it diffuses the light and casts great shadows. — Giselle

Patterned Watercolor Sketchbook — Amber Jensen

For this project, I decided to use my skills in leather dying and finishing to create a finished leather sketchbook. I used the painter’s tape directly on the leather and then cut away to reveal a beehive pattern. I then used some of my vegetable dye in the exposed areas. Once it was dry, I peeled away the tape, applied some accents of gold ink and went back into it with an ink pen using only the vegetable dye. I finished the piece with a protective coating of acrylic for leather. Inside, I bound watercolor paper and riveted it to the back of the book. — Amber

Typographic Idea Wall — Erin Scott

I am a graphic designer who loves to make hand-drawn type and large installations, so I decided to merge the two ideas and redesign an office space with some inspirational hand-drawn type. When I realized submitting something from my apartment wasn’t an option, I approached TOMS (I am interning there this summer) and asked them if I could have a wall in their building. When I explained the contest, they were so excited and did everything they could to help make the concept a reality. Once I had designed this type installation, I assembled a team of about 10 interns to help me execute it in a four-day period. It was crazy, messy, and amazing. — Erin

Geometric Painted Wall — Alecia Stenseth

The inspiration for my Painter’s Tape DIY was an image in Elle Decor of Kelly Wearstler’s beach house. There was a photo of a room with dramatic hand-painted wallpaper. I decided that the best way to replicate the look was to hand paint the stripes in a geometric pattern with a brush (I wanted to keep that hand-painted look and for the lines to have some undulation in color), cover the pattern in painter’s tape, repaint over the tape in the same color to prevent bleeding and to obtain crisp, uniform lines and then to cover the entire wall with a high-gloss white (4 coats of white). The final step was to peel away the painter’s tape to reveal the design. — Alecia

Three-Color Painted Wall — Jillian Taylor

As an artist who regularly uses all varieties of tape in my drawings and paintings, I was quite excited when I saw this contest posted. One reason I love using tape in my work is because of its unique look and texture and the variety of lines achieved when it is torn. We are so accustomed to using painter’s tape to mask a straightedge to paint straight lines, so I wanted to put a spin on this practice by painting against a torn tape edge. This contest inspired me to paint my bedroom, which desperately needed some attention. The whole room isn’t done yet, but the paint has made a huge difference. This project celebrates my love of the beauty of ripped tape! — Jillian

3D Cube Painted Wall — Donna Yu

I wanted something vintage-like, and I really liked the idea of having a 3D pattern on my wall. I have a tiny studio apartment, so I guess I wanted to trick myself into having more space! I first started using stencil but soon came to realize I really needed a grid to carry out the pattern properly. Once I made the grid with tape, I figured it was way easier to use tape for the whole project, as I could paint the whole thing at once (that is, if you want the whole pattern to be one color). But you can use different colors for the different sides of the cubes and whatnot if you wish. — Donna

CLICK HERE TO CAST YOUR FINAL VOTE FOR THE WINNER! (Note: Voting poll will open in a new window/tab.)

Wow, these are all great! Personally, I love someone who thinks outside the box, though, so I’m going with the lamp. It is so creative! Kudos to Giselle for using a material in a totally different way than its intended use!

my 1st vote is for the three color wall. You can’t free hand “torn edge” and I think Its the most unusual use of painters tape… second place I’d vote to the leather journal, because of the skill to do the honeycomb so close without breaking them (as well as the fact that homemade books are da bomb) and 3rd I’d say to the cube wall. :-)

The lamp! Because my first impression when I saw the photo was that I could not find the tape project….I thought I was looking at a big piece of coral! While the wall designs are great and some of them would have taken hours of patience, the ‘coral’ lamp is fabulous.

The lamp! I love it! Was looking for the blue tape in shot. Adore that there was no paint involved in the project. Such creative thinking. I did imagine I was looking at an incredibly beautiful piece of coral. I want one now – off to buy some tape!

I enjoyed the geometric wall and the sponge lamp, however, my favorite was Jillian Taylor’s torn tape painted wall. I really feel that she pushed the boundaries on this project/contest. It’s a unique concept, and like others have mentioned, it lends itself to many possibilities. It’s not only beautiful aesthetically, but also conceptually. I’m really interested in this artist’s concept and would like to see her other work. Good job to everyone!

I’m already going to try out the ‘coral lamp’, but not leave it sticky… maybe spray paint it. Imagine the dust otherwise! I love the coral lamp. Then, the honeycomb sketchbook; I’m so into honeycomb patterns right now.

Going to go with the Sponge Lamp…. Like others said above, I had a hard time pinpointing the DIY in that image because it looks SOOO real and it’s so creative. Be honest, who really thought, “Oh, she just rolled up the tape to make a light out of it” ??! Nice work to you and EVERYONE! Even though my vote is for the lamp, I too would take either of those walls in my home :-)

This is TOO HARD!! They are all really, really amazing,. I thought about putting little pieces of paper with the #’s 1-6 on them in a bag and then just picking one out. But in the end I am going for #6. I , too, live in a small apartment and I think coming up with something this creative for a tiny space and having it work deserves some special recognition. I almost went for the tape lamp but I can too easily see how it would look after about a month and the picture is far from pretty. So #6 it is.

The idea that someone would use painter’s tape in a non-painter’s tape type fashion blows my mind. While all of these entries are outstanding, I have to give to Giselle Barron for sheer out of the box creativity!

The Lamp!: couldn’t find the use of tape in the picture, a new approach to tape, something you can take with you or/and even sell!, different effects depending on the time of day, different purposes besides decorating, and yet simple, Oh so naturally, organically (shape wise) simple!!

just because I am more enticed by awesome shapes and patterns I would have to say top two are the “geometric wall” and “3d cube wall”.. my boyfriend sitting next to me completely disagrees and is wondering “how she did it?!” on the “typographic idea wall” just have to say everyone’s ideas are all so creative too! following the rest of this contest to see who the lucky winner is !

I know the poll is closed but just wanted to comment on the creativity of all these designers! Love the lamp, it seems so organic but who knew that it’s made out of painter’s tape? Lots of great wall ideas too.

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